Boris Johnson denies raising Turkey in Brexit campaign

Former U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson came under fire for claiming at an event in Staffordshire Friday that he did not raise fears about Turkish immigration during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign.

Johnson who was a leading figure in the official Leave campaign, was giving a speech on Brexit at JCB's headquarters in Staffordshire.

In a Q&A after the speech he was asked repeatedly about the way the Leave campaign raised the issue of Turkish accession to the EU and potential future immigration from that country. He said: "Actually, I didn’t say anything about Turkey in the referendum ... Since I made no remarks, I can’t disown them."

When a journalist persisted with the question Johnson said: "I didn’t make any remarks about Turkey, mate."

Political opponents and campaigners for a second referendum on EU membership were quick to seize on the remarks. They pointed out that he and follow Brexiteer Michael Gove wrote to then Prime Minister David Cameron on the subject. They wrote: "Others assert that the UK has ‘a veto’ on Turkish accession. This claim is obviously artificial given the government’s commitment to Turkish accession at the earliest possible opportunity."

He was also quoted as saying, "I am very pro-Turkish but what I certainly can’t imagine is a situation in which 77 million of my fellow Turks and those of Turkish origin can come here without any checks at all. That is mad — that won’t work."

In his speech, Johnson addressed the Brexit impasse in Westminster and called for an EU exit that will "bring this country together." But when asked whether he would back Prime Minister Theresa May in a snap election if there was one, he declined to say.

Johnson claimed the best way to reconcile a divided Britain is to "address the issues" which led 52 percent of the electorate to vote Leave in the June 2016 referendum.

"We can stop going on miserably about the whole process of Brexit and start talking about what Brexit can do to for the people of this country and bring this country together," the former foreign secretary said.

He said government should "devolve fiscal power to big cities and the regions" in order to address discrepancies in British attainment and productivity.

"I'm not going to pretend that there won't be challenges and I'm not going to pretend that there won't be changes that we have to deal with, of course there will be, but I say to everybody who believes in the democratic freedoms of this country, we are more than up to it."

Labour MP Virendra Sharma dismissed Johnson's claim he had not spoken about Turkey during the referendum campaign. "[Johnson is] now trying to act the great liberal by championing migration, after shamelessly pushing anti-Turkish messages as a leader of the Vote Leave campaign," he said.

“It’s time to stop giving his ill-thought through ideas oxygen, and hand the Brexit decision back to the public through a people’s vote.”